“…this is truly unprecedented in history. And what we’re seeing is secrecy and surveillance are completely subverting security and liberty, not just in the United States, but for many, many citizens around the world.”

Further information regarding this subject available through the following two videos featuring Jacob Appelbaum in a Q&A workshop discussing computer security, mobile phone security, cellphone forensics, and state repression and surveillance.

II. How to Protect Our Privacy

As for how we can protect ourselves from these intrusions into our privacy? Aside from everything mentioned above in Jacob Appelbaum’s Q&A workshop, which included some brief remarks about open-source software and an in-depth discussion on maintaining anonymity by using the Tor Network and how to secure your cell phone and computer, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has provided a 12 step program - originally publish in 2002 and still very relevant today - with some suggestion on how we can protect our online privacy:

The dangers of providing too much personal information cannot be over emphasized. It is up to us to make sure that we are protected not only from identity theft but also from private data mining organizations and governments that have developed massive data collection systems.

Privacy is an Illusion: Alessandro Acquisti at TEDxMidAtlantic

An open Internet is crucial for our development and growth as a collective, but this social networking can also occur without us providing sensitive information about our identity - Have you ever had a nickname that you loved? Have you ever wanted to create a nickname that represented who you have become? Did you ever want to be younger or older then you are? Did you ever want to have a different birth sign? - The Internet provides a great opportunity for us to create our second persona that will live in parallel with us, expanding our social network beyond our wildest dreams.

Through the Net, we can visit and live anywhere we want, and be anyone we want. The Internet is where we reside, it is our home, so until Social Networking Websites give us the option to choose the Internet as our hometown, we should travel the world. Keep in mind that even an alternative spelling of our name, a different birth day, or a fake address can help protect our anonymity.

III. How to Improve Our Society

“We need a comprehensive data privacy law. This law should protect all information about us, and not be limited merely to financial or health information. It should limit others' ability to buy and sell our information without our knowledge and consent. It should allow us to see information about us held by others, and correct any inaccuracies we find. It should prevent the government from going after our information without judicial oversight. It should enforce data deletion, and limit data collection, where necessary. And we need more than token penalties for deliberate violations.”

The best way to stop these entities is to make fundamental changes to the system itself. This requires us to be educated in the methods in which we are controlled, allowing us to understand the problems that exist in the current system so we can avoid its pitfalls. Placement at the highest levels in government of ethical civil servants that are accountable to the people and regard the privacy of individuals as the most important aspect of their duties is an essential starting point. Decentralizing power is a crucial aspect of this process.

Due diligence is required from all of us to make sure that the Internet remains a free form of communication without bounds. We must help protect the largest library ever created so that it will remain accessible to all, making sure that it does not turn into a spiders web.